Michael John Neill's genealogy website. Things that cross my path, general research suggestions, and whatever else ...with a little bit of attitude. I don't post "news" just to post it, never post a press release (edited or otherwise), don't feign excitement, and pretty much say what I think.

31 December 2006

The sample image shown is from 1907. Ancestry is adding more years to the index on an ongoing basis. All the images are there, but not all are indexed. The Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 are browsable by date.

30 December 2006

It is not often that a story involving your ancestor's cemetery makes the national newswire.

Greenmound Cemetery in Keithsburg, Illinois, has made news scene because the displays put up on the grave of an Iraqi War veteran have drawn the attention of the cemetery trustees. While I understand the desire of the family to honor their deceased loved one, I also understand the need of the cemetery board to be able to maintain the cemetery without additional full-sized flags, benches and other items being placed at the gravesite.

I'm not certain how I feel about a flag flying permanently at half-staff either.

My wife's ancestors Archibald and Lucinda Kile are buried in the cemetery in this Mississippi River town. There is little controversy regarding their graves--even though Archibald Kile was also a military veteran.

26 December 2006

CNN is reporting that former US President Gerald Ford passed away on December 27th. A while back we located him in the 1920 and 1930 census and posted those images on our site.http://www.rootdig.com/gerald_ford.html

25 December 2006

The possibility never even crossed my mind.A daughter of Marie Cawiezell "disappeared" in the 1890s in Davenport, Iowa, and I simply thought she died as a child without a death certificate or extant tombstone. Some fortunate snooping located Emma Cawiezell living in New York City as Emma Davis and working as an actress. Her 1893 death certificate provides some information about her and I'm anxious to see if I can get information from the cemetery. I never thought she travelled from Davenport, Iowa, all the way to New York! There were no stories passed down to the present generation about an aunt who died in NYC while working as an actress.

23 December 2006

We have updated our pages with how-to articles on Illinois and Chicago area research. Some articles have links to examples of actual records and all are step by step, focusing on a variety of problems and time periods.

22 December 2006

For those of you with Missouri roots, the Missouri State Archives recently loaded additional death certificates to their website. The index covers 1910 to 1955. And you can now see the images for 1910 to 1929 and 1950 to 1955.

Ancestry.com has posted Meyers Gazetteer of the German Empire on their website. This geographic source can be used for free on the Ancestry site (you will have to provide an email address). Now this wonderful resource can be used at home.

The image on the right is for Holtrop, where many of my ancestors lived.

21 December 2006

The one that always frustrates me is "are you related to anyone famous?" Occasionally this is phrased as "do you have any famous ancestors?" Of course, the goal of genealogy is to locate as many famous relatives as possible. Uh huh. While I do have fun locating famous people in the census, locating them is not as much fun as locating actual relatives. Most of my relatives were farmers, with the occasional artisan and laborer thrown in. There were a few ministers, but one has to go back three hundred years to find them.

This picture of Riley Rampley (1835-1893) was likely taken in Hancock County sometime before his death in Walker Township, Hancock, Illinois. His Civil War records indicate his hair was red and he certainly has more hair than I will when I reach the age he likely is in this picture.

Riley is an excellent example of an average person (nothing wrong with that) who left a great deal of records. His military pension file is over 200 pages and there was a court case involving his estate that was started ten years after his death.

I thought this was cute and it went over well on the Gen-Newbie mailing list where occasionally we get slightly off topic.NOTE: I am getting a 503: Service Unavailable Error when I try and access it today.

19 December 2006

We are offering a discounted price on our May 2007 research trip toSalt Lake City.

The discounted offer is good between 1 and 27 December 2006. The discount applies to single and double occupancy. Price includes hotel accomodations.

This price is one hundred dollars less than our usual price. Genealogy research trips make an excellent Christmas present and do not take upmuch space under the tree. We had a great time on our trip last year and are looking forward to another great trip.

We have found the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in several American passenger lists in the 1930s through the 1950s. Wallis listed separately in several and the last ones are with her and Edward sailing to the US together. Some list their two dogs and in one they have 60 pieces of luggage. Their staff are apparently listed on a few manifests and on one they have apparently cancelled their trip as their names are crossed off the manifest, but are still legible. We have posted seven different images on our site where they can be viewed.

16 December 2006

I found that my great-grandfather's cousin has two patents issued in the mid-1900s. One for a fish hook remover U.S. Patent 2907134 and one for a feed trough device (2576154). My search was done by entering the words

trautvetter warsaw

in the search box.

Since the town of residence is usually included in the patent it would be an excellent search term to enter in addition to the name, especially for genealogists using this site.

14 December 2006

When one is unfamiliar with the laws of an area it can be easy to assume things that simply are not true.

Nancy Rampley and her youngest son sued all her other children (and his siblings) in the early 1900s over the title to her farm in Illinois. One could look at this as a great disagreement between Nancy and her son and the other children. That was not the case.

Nancy's husband died leaving no will. Nancy and all her children owned the farm jointly. Nancy wanted to sell the farm and move to town. The only problem was her youngest son was a minor and unable to sign of his own accord. Consequently Nancy and the youngest minor child had to sue the rest of the family. It was the only recourse they had due to his age.

What I originally thought was a huge family squabble was really the result of the youngest child's age, the law at the time, and Nancy's unwillingness to wait to sell the farm and move to town ;-)

12 December 2006

Sometimes we have to guess at the alternate names our ancestors used. Sometimes we get lucky and we do not. Many of my Ostfriesen ancestors had names that were not readily Anglicized or did not use the Anglicization that "everyone else did." Sometimes virtually any record can provide documentation to the name variation. This deed from 1902 in Hancock County, Illinois, makes reference to Gretje Fecht. Many Gretjes used Grace as their name in the United States. This deed indicates Gretje Fecht used Maggie.

11 December 2006

Of course, work on a family never centers on one document (or at least should not, if at all possible). In the case of Martha and others, her death certificate should be analyzed in light of other evidence. And it should always be remembered that documents can be incorrect. Her death certificate had information provided from someone outside the family--a prime source of potentially incorrect information.

The 1900 census for Rocky Run Township, Hancock County, Illinois even has the last name as Sargin instead of Sargent.

Martha's 1900 census entry (itself prone to errors) gives a different middle initial for her and a year of birth off from the census, but not radically different.

The death certificate here represents part of my brick wall. It is the death certificate of Martha Ellen Sargent, second wife of my ancestor, Ira Sargent. Martha had one daughter, Martha/Mattie Sargent Silsby Greenstreet. Martha Ellen may have also had a son before her marriage to Ira Sargent, but no information about this son has been located. Unfortunately, this certificate for Martha does not provide much in the way of information.

Martha and Ira are enumerated in the 1900

census with Ira in Rocky Run Twp., Hancock County, Illinois. I have been unable to locate her in 1910, 1920 or 1930 for reasons I cannot determine. Ira was institutionalized between 1900 and 1910 and is enumerated in the state hospital near Peoria, Illinois.

Interestingly enough, Ira's first wife was named Florence Ellen. She is another story completely.

10 December 2006

Have you ever really thought about how that entry gets to your computer screen when you search a database? I'm not talking about how the information is transmitted from a file server to your computer. Rather how the information left your ancestor's mouth, went into the census taker's ear, to the written page, through the transcriber, etc. Thinking about all the steps in this process, might help you locate a record that has been giving you trouble.

04 December 2006

If you are searching at Ancestry.com and getting stuff you never even searched for, and you don't want those matches, make certain you have your search box set to "exact matches only." Otherwise, Ancestry.com performs ranked searches and many times returns as "hits" items that do not come close to matching your search terms.

I know I'm in the minority, but I do not like the "ranked" searches. With the exact search, it does what I tell it to. There are so few times I get to be in charge, that I like to take advantage of every opportunity that comes along ;-)

Seriously, if I do a ranked search, I cannot be exactly certain how the search was conducted. If I am uncertain how the search was conducted, how can I tweak it to improve the chance I find who I was looking for?

02 December 2006

Thanks to a reader, we have located the 1920 census image for "Santa Clause" in southern Missouri. He's not living with Mrs. Clause, although his WW1 draft card indicates he is married at that time. He signed the card, "Santy Clause" which is kinda cute.

The images of the draft card and the 1920 census can be viewed at:http://www.rootdig.com/santa/

An earlier post mentioned my search for James Neill in Butler County, KS. A respondent to a post I made on the Butler County, KS message board at Rootsweb sent me two death notices for James.

The good news is they found them and now I have the date of death. The even better news is that James never married and no children are listed. This is excellent because James left no nieces or nephews either. His only heirs would have been his first cousins.

Why do I care?

Because James is a first cousin to my great-grandfather, Charles Neill.

I don't always track down all the first cousins of each ancestor, usually because I just don't have the time. But this situation is a little different.

James and Charles were sons of two Irish immigrant brothers, Joseph and Samuel. These two brothers were born in the 1830s and emigrated from Ireland in the 1860s. Story is that there were other siblings of Joseph and Samuel. I have no clue where they emigrated to, or if they stayed in Ireland. If there were siblings and they had children, they would also be first cousins of James and also heirs. If there is an estate settlement for James...all his first cousins might be listed. It is worth a shot.

So I'm going to see if there is a probate and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

01 December 2006

Those who haven't might want to consider searching the manifests at Ancestry.com while they are free to see if any relatives made a trip overseas. For citizens, in later years, there should be a reference to their passport on the manifest.

Their passport application may provide even more information. Keep in mind earlier manifests do not include passport information, but many after 1907 will list the citizenship status and provide information (brief) on where the person was naturalized.

Just a thought if you are stuck. There are also some lists included of various crew members and others as well.Michael

We are offering a discounted price on our May 2007 research trip to Salt Lake City. The discounted offer is good between 1 and 15 December 2006. The discount applies to single and double occupancy. Price includes hotel accomodations.

This price is one hundred dollars less than our usual price. Genealogy research trips make an excellent Christmas present and do not take up much space under the tree. We had a great time on our trip last year and are looking forward to another great trip.

28 November 2006

There is some debate about whether or not he is the true author, but Clement Moore is credited with writing "Twas the Night Before Christmas, " and giving all of Santa's reindeer (except for Rudolph) their names. Clement Moore was living New York City in 1850 and 1860 and we have posted a page for him with links to his census entries in those years.

I am really looking forward to our second annual research trip to Salt Lake City in May of 2007. We are at the Family History Library from a Wednesday to a Wednesday. Part of the trip package includes pre-trip planning. Trip goers are encouraged to send me summaries of their research problems as soon as possible before we leave so I can have time to review their material and make suggestions in advance of our trip. This is to give us time to clarify and problems and to get records from outside sources before we are in Salt Lake. Our goal is to have everyone with lists of books, films and other materials to access upon their arrival in Salt Lake.

We choose Wednesday to Wednesday for our trip because the library is closed on Sunday. This gives trippers a time to relax, regroup and get ready for three more days. We have found that six days of straight researching is not a good idea for many. Trippers last year spent Sunday sight-seeing and recouping before we were back at the Library and hard at it on Monday morning.

There are presentations by me on a variety of topics yet to be determined each morning.

I am in the library at least 8 hours a day for questions and answers and trip goers are encouraged to sign up for consultations during our library time or drop by and ask me questions during time I am not in a consultation.

We have added a few passenger manifest entries for actress Greta Garbo and Cartoonist Walt Disney to our site. More are enroute and suggestions for additions are welcome! I wasted time looking for Garbo under her "birth name" only to find her under Greta Garbo. Had to hit myself on the head for that one!Michael

Ancestry.com today announced it is extending free access to the most extensive immigration records collection online through the end of the year. The link below will take you to the collection.The picture below may say November 30th, but it is not right, it is December 31st.

25 November 2006

We have found actress Gloria Swanson in several US passenger lists between 1903 and 1950. The first one has her arriving with her mother in the United States from Puerto Rico. The others are return voyages from trips to Europe.

You might be surprised to find your relatives in the county poor farm---locating the records is the problem...

The Poor FarmThe county poor farm (or almshouse) was a fixture of many eighteenth-century counties in the United States. These tax-supported institutions were places where individuals who could not support themselves could go. Generally residents were required to work if they were able on the farm that was usually a part of the property (hence the name "poor farm".

Some individuals might find themselves in temporary dire circumstances and remain at the farm a short time, as did some of the individuals in the example that follows. Others may stay longer. Illness, injury, loss of job, death of parents, or a variety of other circumstances may have resulted in your ancestor knocking on the door of the county farm.

23 November 2006

Elizabeth Taylor was born in England of parents (Frances and Sara Taylor) who were American citizens. According to US manifests for Elizabeth, her parents (and she) made three trips from England to the United States between her birth and the entry of the United States into World War II. Their address is listed as New York City or California, depending upon the manifest.

She and her mother must have made one trip to Europe by themselves in the 1940s and there is a manifest with her and husband Conrad "Nicky" Hilton and Michael Wilding.

These are three books that are sitting on my "nearby" shelf for ready reference. Maybe Santa can get you one for Christmas.

RedBookThis is a really helpful guide to county and local sources and provides an overview of genealogical information on each state. I co-wrote five chapters, including the ones for Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa.

SourceI've had each edition of this tome and have always been well pleased. There is a wealth of information in this book and one can pick it up and start reading in any chapter.

Land and Property ResearchLand records are one of my favorite sources--they can reveal a great deal of information about your family's comings and goings as well as various inheritance relationships.

18 November 2006

My wife is 1/8 Swedish and when I know I'll have some time, I subscribe to Genline.com (http://www.genline.com) and access what I can. Genline provides online access to Swedish church records, from the earliest records until the 1860s. There are abstracts of birth records for the latter part of the nineteenth century and this source is a wonderful boon to those with Swedish ancestry. The nice thing about Genline is that there are several options under which you can subscribe, 30 days, 60 days, a year, and they are every so often offering discounts, etc.

As time goes on, we'll be posting some of my experiences with Genline and Swedish records here. The families I am working on are for the most part from Ostergotland, particularly in and around Tjarstad. Of course, one of the last names is Johnson (Jonsson)--but then if you are Swedish and don't have Jonsson ancestors, there's a problem somewhere!

Google (actually their blogger site) declared my site to be spam.After nearly a week, I have received confirmation from blogger that I am not spam.This is a big relief, because I have never managed to fit myself into a small can and was concerned I would be unable to close the lid.Michael

14 November 2006

There are times when a quick lookup is all you need. The US GenWeb page for Butler County, KS had an offer to do lookups in a series of published cemetery books. My great-grandfather's first cousin, James Neill, lived in that county from 1900 until 1930, according to the census. I emailed the contact person his name, year and state of birth, and last known date alive. In a few days I learned the cemetery where he was buried and his year of death. Armed with this information, I can get a death certificate and other information. We will post updates as we have them.

12 November 2006

I've been playing around with the immigration databases at Ancestry.com--a really great way to spend a little spare time and much more fun that watching HGTV in my opinion. Ancestry is offering free access to their immigration databases until the end of November.

Ancestry is offering a free subscription to its immigration databases until the end of November. I use Ancestry.com on a regular basis, but remember to make your decision by 29 Nov so you can contact Ancestry.com if you wish to NOT continue the membership.The link below will bring up the free trial offer.

Talking about your research problem may be just what it takes to get a new idea to "hit you in the face."

On one of my brick wall lines, I realized while talking about it in a lecture on Saturday that there was a first cousin of my great-grandfather who died with no descendants and whose siblings also had no descendants. That meant that the estate would have gone to his first cousins, who in this case may have been spread across the globe. It took talking about the family for this option to "pop" into my head.

Just goes to remind us that talking about a problem (or writing about it) may be enough to get us to notice something that we just keep overlooking when silently studying.

04 November 2006

We are in the final stages of planning our annual research to Ft. Wayne, Indiana's Allen County Public Library--sponsored by the St. Charles County Genealogical Society and St. Charles Community College. This will be our eighth annual trip. More information will be posted to our site at

31 October 2006

I will be presenting the Family History workshop in the St. Charles, Missouri, area on 4 November 2006, Saturday. This all-day event is sponsored by the St. Charles County Genealogical Society and the St. Charles Community College. Registation is still possible and more information is on our website below:

29 October 2006

Ancestry.com is having a sweepstakes and an offer for three free days of Ancestry.com. How much you can find in three days is a whole "nuther" story, but a trip would always be good. To enter the contest click below....you can always enter just for the three free days, or just start a free 14 day trial and not worry about the contest.

23 October 2006

Those who want their "coat of arms" and surname history can now get it instantly on QVC. Progress is wonderful.

You can pick whatever name you want. Heck, even make one up. It will let you purchase a coat of arms for the Idiot family (I tried but changed my mind when they asked for a credit card--after all, I'm no Idiot), but most of those "seven dirty words" are forbidden (ok, I tried a few of those too but I won't admit it to my kids).

21 October 2006

The first complete index for the 1851 Census for all of Canada will be available for searching on October 24, 2006 at Ancestry.com Join either Ancestry.com or Ancestry.ca to search for ancestors by name, and to view the images free from the release until the end of October. The database will only be free until the end of the month.

19 October 2006

Biology indicates that half of our ancestors are female. For those of us working in American records, a knowledge and understanding of the legal system is important.

There was a time when women could not own property, could not will property, could not be guardians for their children, etc. etc. In some cases, a failure to understand the law of the time may create brick walls that do not exist.

For example, my ancestor Sarah Turberville, left a will in Virginia in 1761, mentioning no real property. What? How can that be? The family had a farm, etc. etc. The reason is that in 1761 Virginia women could not own property in their own right...that is why.

17 October 2006

Anyone who has a social security number has an SS-5 form, the "application for Social Security and Tax Account Number" appears on the right.

I don't often get these. They are $27 from the Social Security Administration and are open to the public for anyone who is deceased. They are helpful when other records are not available or other records are confusing. The one on the right is for my wife's grandmother. It is one of the few I have...because in her case records were inconsistent.

Keep in mind that for more individuals these forms were filled out by the applicant themselves. That is usually not the case with death certificates and why in some situations these records provide information that is at odds with the death record.

Records written in a foreign language are always a challenge. There are several thigns to keep in mind when working with records that are not in your native tongue.

Many church records can be translated using a handful of words.

Many church records follow boilerplate text.

For these reasons, word lists from the Family History Library (http://www.familysearch.com) are particularly effective. Also it is extremely helpful to copy all the register entries on the same page as the located entry and to find entries for all family members, not just your direct line.

15 October 2006

Thanks to the Friends of the Virginia State Archives for inviting me to give their annual Richard Slatten lectures at the Library of Virginia this past weekend. It was great to be at the library and I hope the attendees enjoyed the seminar as much as I did presenting it. I also appreciated the Southern hospitality and only wish I had more time to utilize the library's wonderful collection and absorb more of Richmond's history.

The workshop was held at the Library of Virginia, home to an excellent collection of Virginia archival materials. http://www.lva.lib.va.us/

There is still room in the "Using Ancestry.com" workshop being sponsored on 21 October at Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois. Attendees will have access to Ancestry for the duration of the workshop and all will have their own computer to use. For more information or to register, visit our page with details.

09 October 2006

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the Spokane seminar as much as I did this past weekend. The committee from the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society did an excellent job from my perspective and hats off to them for all their work and preparation. Hopefully everyone enjoyed their doorprizes as much as I enjoyed putting the winning numbers on the screen ;-)

The website for ordering materials will have additional links added to today. That link should be in your handout.

If there are other URLs or links that you need from the seminar, please let me know mjnrootdig@gmail.com and I'll send them to you privately or post them here for others to use as well.

Thanks for having me as your speaker. Spokane is certainly a beautiful city and the short tour I got Saturday night from Donna Potter Philips was greatly appreciated. It's clear she loves Spokane and knows a great deal about its history as well.

04 October 2006

For those who have been waiting, many of the conference sessions from the Federation of Genealogical Societies 2006 Boston conference can be downloaded online for a nominal charge. The FGS Board and the conference committee is hoping this is a way that we can share the conference information with those who were unable to attend.

Individual sessions can be downloaded for just $1.99. Special packages of 15 sessions are available for $25 – a discount of 17% off the usual price. Once you download the sessions you can listen to them on your computer, iPod or other MP3 player. Visit www.lulu.com/fgs2006 to download your sessions now. If you have any problems or questions about downloading, please contact the FGS office at fgs-office@fgs.org .

03 October 2006

Genealogists who focus too much on migration trails might overlook what usually is more important in my opinion: migration chains.

If your ancestor moved from point A to point B, what brought him there? Determing the likely reason lead to new research opportunities. Of my numerous immigrant ancestors in the 1840-1885 era, I thought I only had one who came "alone." Turns out they didn't come alone after all---I just missed the links because the links. The connection was not obvious and involved several degrees of "in-laws." All of my immigrant ancestors during this period (nearly a dozen families) immigrated to where they had family or relatives. Keep looking...there's probably a connection somewhere.

Readers of the Ancestry World Journal will see my story on this migration chain in an upcoming edition.

And if anyone knows what caused August Mortier to be one of the earliest Belgians to settle in Moline/Rock Island, Illinois (they arrived in 1880 which was a decade before significant numbers came to the Quad Cities)...let me know. I have several Mortier descendants living in my house, but am not one myself ;-).

I'm a little tired in this picture...but someone asked me for a recent one and it is the most current that I have. Juliana Smith (of Ancestry.com) snapped it at NGS in Chicago in June (I'm probably working on two hours of sleep...) . At every conference...she's got that darned camera ;-).

21 September 2006

I went back today and compared a scan I did of an 1841 UK census entry with the entry at Ancestry.com. The different was outstanding. I remember spending HOURS upon HOURS looking for the family originally when barely half the census page could be read. The images at Ancestry.com were enhanced and are a significant improvement over what I got from the microfilm.

The images are not the same size, but there is no doubt which one is better.

My great-grandmother-in-law had four children born in Chicago early in the twentieth century. The oldest two have delayed birth certificates which incorrectly state they were twins (filed on different days no less), the third has no birth certificate, and the youngest has a relatively correct certificate filed at the time of his birth in 1914 in Chicago.

20 September 2006

My "UFO Ancestors" lecture from the FGS conference in Boston has been posted on lulu.com and can be downloaded for $1.99. It was there all along and I missed it...why? Because I did a "find on page" for my last name "neill" and that's NOT how my name got spelled on the site. It listed as "neil" but it is me.

14 September 2006

I know little about her other than she was born in Ireland ca. 1840 and was in St. John New Brunswick in 1865 when she married Samuel Neill. Samuel (and his brother Joseph) left for Hancock County, Illinois, around 1870, where many of their descendants still live today.

Annie is not known to have had any family move with her to Illinois. Any suggestions are welcomed. Anyone wanting to know what little more I know about the Neills can see more information on the site.

13 September 2006

Ancestry is having a sweepstakes to visit your ancestral homeland. You might want to give it a try by entering. The only problem is that you already have to know the country where your ancestor came from. Heck, if they could just tell me where my Ira Sargent was born, I wouldn't even bother with the trip. ;-)

12 September 2006

A few years ago I wrote a column about an 1856 Illinois probate manual. While this might seem like really dry reading, genealogists can benefit greatly from reviewing such material in detail. An understanding of applicable inheritance and probate laws can prevent one from making incorrect conclusions and suggest when additional follow up may be needed with other records.

We have had attendees come from 10 states over the past nine years. We try to offer day long sessions not usually seen at national conferences. Our registration fee per day is around $35, which is the same as it was the year we started the workshops.

08 September 2006

I will be presenting the Family History workshop in the St. Charles, Missouri, area on 4 November 2006. This all-day event is sponsored by the St. Charles County Genealogical Society and the St. Charles Community College.

07 September 2006

Many of the lectures at the recent FGS 2006 conference in Boston were recorded and can be downloaded to your computer, ipod, etc. at a very reasonable cost. So far, only the Wednesday lectures have been downloaded, but more are on the way.

05 September 2006

The Federation of Genealogical Societies' 2006 conference in Boston is barely over and some of us have already focused our attention on next year's conference.

In 2007, FGS travels to Ft. Wayne, home of the Allen County Public Library, which will be showcasing not only its outstanding genealogy collection, but also its extensively expanded and remodeled digs.

The conference will be held at the Grand Wayne Center - Fort Wayne, Indiana, August 15-18, 2007. Mark your calendars now. A wonderful choice of sessions, extended hours for the library, and an exhibit hall full of genealogical wares await those who join us in 2007.

More information will be posted on the FGS website as it is developed.

02 September 2006

At the recent FGS 2006 Conference in Boston, the Records Preservation and Access Committee (http://www.fgs.org/rpa/) announced their concern over changes in the hours in the research rooms at the National Archives. This concern was conveyed to Dr. Allen Weinstein in a letter from David Rencher, Chair of the Records Preservation and Access Committee.

These changes would eliminate evening hours at the National Archives.These changes would eliminate Saturday hours at the National Archives.

Many genealogists who travelt to DC to research rely on these evening and Saturday hours to reach their research objectives.

08 August 2006

I am looking forward to the annual Federation of Genealogical Societies' annual conference--this year in Boston, Mass at the end of August. There is still time to register and the conference looks to be a great one. Kudos to Michael and Sue for lining up a great agenda in a great venue. More information on FGS and the conference can be located on the website at http://www.fgs.org.

This trunk belonged to my aunt who immigrated ca. 1870 to Keokuk Junction, Illinois (now Golden). It is not in the best of shape, but the front is lovely. All but two of her numerous siblings settled in either Adams or Hancock counties in Illinois, including Focke (Frank), my great-great-grandfather. I have one of his trunks too from a later voyage, but his name is not stenciled on it.

05 August 2006

I finally got a copy of my grandfather's 1917 birth certificate when I was in Salt Lake a few months ago. I had seen it years ago, but was too cheap to pay for an official copy. I thought it listed his first name along with both his middle names. My memory was incorrect, only one middle name was listed and the anglicized version of his mother's name was used. I also got his time of birth (2:45 a.m.), which I didn't have before. It's always good to get these events down as precisely as possible!

Remember that the Family History Library may have something on film which you sometimes can get much cheaper through your branch library than you can at the courthouse. In the case of this birth certificate from 1917, even with ordering the film on loan, I saved $6. In states where copies of vitals run as high as $20, the savings can be substantial.

And remember---RARELY do you need a birth or death certificate immediately, via fax, overnight mail, etc. If you are ordering the certificate online from anyone BUT the local records office, you are paying too much.

03 August 2006

As most genealogists know, pre-1850 census records provide less direct information on the individuals enumerated. Names of only heads of household is a limitation. However, it is possible to do some analysis on these entries. We've posted a series of articles analyzing pre-1850 census entries for one family from Pennsylvania on our site for those who may need some direction on using records from this era.

02 August 2006

We still have room in our two-day hands on workshop on using Genline.com for Swedish genealogical research. For those who are not aware, Genline offers online access to church records for all of Sweden and is an excellent source for those with Swedish ancestry.

Our workshop is on 18 and 19 August 2006 in Galesburg, Illinois, on the campus of Carl Sandburg College. All attendees will have their own computer to use for the duration of the workshop.

31 July 2006

I received an email today from a cousin. It is difficult for me to explain the relationship precisely because:

her paternal grandfather and my mother's paternal grandfather were brothers.

her maternal grandmother and my father's paternal grandmother were sisters.

and, one of her great-grandmothers was a sister to my great-great-grandfather.

Needless to say we're related ;-)Once you get back five generations on her pedigree chart 5 out of 8 names in every generation are also on my pedigree chart!Double cousins are pretty common for me---which explains why I have one genealogy database instead of several separate ones.Michael

29 July 2006

We have added the following Famous Census Search contests to our site, complete with new prizes:1870 Thomas Edison1930 J. Edgar Hoover1910 William Faulkner1930 Geogria O'Keefehttp://www.rootdig.com/contest/

The 1893 obituary for Marie Cawiezell in Davenport, Iowa, indicates her daughter Emma had died a few weeks earlier in NYC. Until I saw the obituary reference, I just assumed Emma had died "young" and eluded death records in Davenport and was buried in an unmarked grave.

19 July 2006

The newest version of the Source has just arrived in my mailbox. For those genealogists who don't have a copy and need some summer reading, it will provide you with hours of learning. The first edition of the source was one of the first genealogical reference books I ever bought.

18 July 2006

There is still plenty of time to register for the Federation of Genealogical Societies' conference in Boston, Mass. 30 Aug through 2 Sept. I'll be there, speaking, visiting the exhibit hall and catching up with other genealogists.

Tips from the Pros: Did Grandpa and Grandma Immigrate Too?

from Michael John Neill (from the 24-7 Family History Blog at Ancestry.com)

Don’t overlook Grandpa and Grandpa in your search for immigrant ancestors. When it is determined that an ancestor emigrated as an adult, the thought many times is that the parents remained in the old country, never to see their child again. This is not necessarily so. There were no age limits on immigration and ship manifests are scattered with names of individuals in their sixties and seventies leaving their homeland.

Widows or widowers whose children had all left were more likely to emigrate, perhaps when the last child left. It may explain why an elderly couple has disappeared in the old country.

In my research, when one set of my ancestors disappeared from the church records of their local parish, I assumed it was because they moved to a nearby parish and I had just failed to locate them. A comprehensive search of census and cemetery records for the children in the United States located them on the opposite side of the Atlantic. They were enumerated with a married daughter in the 1870 census and are buried in the same cemetery as that daughter. So if Grandpa and Grandma are lost, don’t neglect the possibility that they might have crossed the pond as well.

01 July 2006

The difference between primary and secondary confuses many genealogists. I posted an article today which discusses the difference. It is also important to remember that classifying a piece of information as either primary or secondary is only PART of the process by which one decides how reliable a given piece of information is.

14 June 2006

Personally I get great deal of value out of the program syllabus, which includes speaker's handouts which summarize their lectures. I tend to be a learner who (ironically) learns best and easiest by reading--so the syllabus is usually of significant interest to me. When a national conference is close enough, I would encourage attendance.

Thanks to those who came up to ask questions after my Illinois and Ohio lectures. I always enjoy the questions and appreciate the time that some of you give to wait patiently for a chance to ask and get an answer.

Those interested in our research trips to Ft. Wayne and Salt Lake should stay tuned. Details are forthcoming.

27 May 2006

Our 2006 research trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake wrapped up last week, we all had a great time and some even hung around for a few extra days wrapping up loose ends and following new leads.

Dates of our 2007 trip to Salt Lake have been announced on our trip website. Stay tuned for future details about 2007!

17 May 2006

We're in Salt Lake City for our first annual research trip to the Family History Library. I arrived a day early and did some probate work and a few other loose ends. We are looking forward to our time in the library. Those who missed this year's trip can stayed tune for information on next year. There probably won't be too many blog postings in the near future....unless I find something really great.Michael

16 May 2006

Carl Sandburg College is hosting a two-day workshop I am presenting on using Genline for Swedish ancestral research. This site has millions of images of Swedish church records and is an excellent site for anyone with Swedish ancestors.

11 May 2006

The fourth registration for the World War II draft in the United States included men born between 28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897. These cards are an excellent genealogical source for anyone born in this time frame.

06 May 2006

Panagiotis Verikios is enumerated in the 1930 census and was not toooo hard to locate except for the fact that his first name and his last name were reversed. Occasionally this happened, more likely with non-English names, but one never knows. When searching the index, consider switching the first and last names...you never know.

04 May 2006

Procrastinator that I am, I just made my reservation at the Ft. Wayne Hilton for our research trip there at the very end of May. Those who are still thinking about joining us still can. Anyone from the US is welcome and more information about our research trip is posted online. We always have a good time and get lots of research done.Michael

03 May 2006

Over the years I have written several articles on Illinois research and posted them on our site. Those with Illinois roots may wish to venture over and take a look:http://www.rootdig.com/illinois.html Michael

02 May 2006

Estate records are a great source for the genealogist. In a past article on our site, we analyze an estate from 1860s in Missouri and include clues about the family that are hinted at in the estate inventory and sale.

Ever thought of postcards your ancestor might have sent? I've posted one to my site that my ancestor sent to his father-in-law when he made a return trip to Germany. The text he wrote is pretty short and generally refers to his trip and the weather...no real hard genealogy information, but it was neat to have it. Consider looking for cards in your own background.

28 April 2006

Thanks to the group from Bureau County (Illinois) for inviting me to speak at their monthly meeting. I always enjoy my trips to Princeton and the society has a very active group with a nice downtown facility. Those with Bureau County roots may wish to check out the society's website; their membership is over 400!http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilbcgs/Michael

27 April 2006

One always has to keep in mind the creative spellings that were used, especially when the families did not speak English. My great-grandfather Frederich Ufkes is listed as Elineny Ufcuss on his birth certificate. And no, nothing close to "Elineny" was ever used as a nickname for him.Michael

We had a great time in Memphis at the recent Tennessee Genealogical Society's Spring workshop. The handout for our Tight Budget lecture has been posted online. The group was very hospitable and my daughter enjoyed everyone of the Brownie Bites the ladies in the kitchen gave her! Thanks again for having me as your speaker.

Ancestry.com has the 1841 UK Census online—16 million names from England, Wales, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. The 1841-1901 UK Census Collection is now complete. It appears they have cleaned up some images as well. I'll be spending too much time looking for the Frames and Watson's from County Cumberland.

We've posted some 1841-1871 samples here. The 1841 image was taken from a microfilm copy. What I just saw at Ancestry.com was MUCH cleaner. The darkness on the left hand side that made reading difficult was essentially gone.

A World Deluxe Membership is needed to see the images (Monthly or Annual), or else get a 14-day free trial. Remember to write down day 13 if you take the trial and decide then to keep or cancel. Don't call the day AFTER to cancel. ;-)

20 April 2006

Over the past several years, we've located hundreds of the famous and infamous in US census records. An article discussing my experiences and lesssons learned has been posted on our site. In most cases, looking for the well-known is not all that different from locating the not-so-well-known.

17 April 2006

Our first contest is to find Hank Williams, Sr. in 1930. First correct submission wins a current edition of Family Tree Maker.More details are on our site at:http://www.rootdig.com/contest.htmlAs of 1:00 CST 19 April 2006 we had no winner.Good Luck!Michael

16 April 2006

She's living in NYC with her parents, but interestingly enough she and her mother are enumerated with the father/husband, John Bouvier, but they are un-named. Very interesting, but made finding them a little more difficult than usual.

The image on our site was reduced in quality to save space, but one can still get the idea.

Once your census work gets to before 1850 it is a different world...only heads of household are enumerated. The analysis is different than it is for census enumerations that list everyone by name. This series of four articles discusses one individual's 1810-1850 census entries, indicating what the tick marks

Before you decide to hire someone to research part of your family for you, there are several things to consider:

What you really want

How much you can afford?

What you already have

How likely it is that your "problem" really has an answer

A few years ago, we posted a series of articles to our site about my experience with a professional genealogist. Those who are considering hiring someone to help them with part of their research may wish to take a look at this series

09 April 2006

I'm not certain who exactly was responsible, but illusionist Harry Houdini is listed as Harry "Handcuff" Houdini on his World War I Draft Card. He even signed that on his card. His World War I draft card is one of over thirty draft cards of notables we have posted to our website. They are all free to view and offer an interesting perspective on history.

Got a Kindle?

Seminars

I present day-long seminars on a wide variety of genealogical topics across the United States. Email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com with date/location of your event and I'll be in touch with lecture topics and other details.